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Man questioned in murder of Montana mother and son who found gold

The bodies of an elderly woman and her son, missing since October, were found Sunday. The mother had recently discovered gold.

Beverly Giannonatti and her son, Greg, disappeared in October after Beverly recovered a bar of gold from her late ex-husband's home. Their bodies were discovered Sunday, and a suspect is in custody. (Montana Department of Justice)

By Yanan WangThe Washington Post

Tues., Dec. 1, 2015

It started with a bar of gold.

While a cleaning woman was going through the Deer Lodge, Mont., house of Beverly Giannonatti’s late ex-husband in preparation for Beverly to move back in, she discovered a 25-pound bar of the precious metal.

It seemed like Giannonatti had come across a stroke of luck, or at the very least a small fortune. Hearing the news from her cleaning lady, the curly-haired 79-year-old went to the house immediately, presumably to retrieve the recovered treasure.

That was on Oct. 19. Ten days later, Beverly and her 57-year-old son Greg vanished without a trace.

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Sunday night, investigators found their bodies in a wooded dump site in Powell County, Mont.

Monday, Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard identified a local resident as a “high person of interest” in the case, the Montana Standard reported.

That man, David Wayne Nelson, is being jailed without bail on a 72-hour investigative hold, Howard said, though he has not been charged with anything.

Montana Department of Corrections records show that Nelson was convicted of robbery and aggravated kidnapping in 1998, burglary in 1981 and accountability for aggravated assault in 2000.

“I know you and the public want more information, but it is my duty to protect the integrity of the case. It is our goal to prosecute to the fullest,” Powell County Sheriff Scott Howard said, adding that the Giannonattis were apparently targeted.

The news has shocked local residents, many of whom have followed the case closely through a Facebook page run by Gayle Mizner, a friend of Beverly Giannonatti’s and lifelong inhabitant of Deer Lodge. Mizner has been in constant contact with Sheriff Howard and relayed frequent updates from his office.

“It’s very upsetting because she’s lived here many, many years,” Mizner said in a phone interview with the Washington Post late Monday. “People are devastated, of course. It’s been long enough that pretty much everybody was thinking that this is how it was going to end.”

Their fate had been foretold by Sheriff Howard earlier in November when he said, “Because of the amount of time that has elapsed since they were last seen, I feel the outcome is not going to be good.”

The month-long search for the Giannonattis, undertaken by both local law enforcement and the FBI, was rife with speculation. Rumours and armchair-sleuthing were fuelled by the strange circumstances under which the mother and son disappeared.

And everything begins with the gold.

With an estimated value of $480,000 (U.S.), the 25-pound ingot was quite the bounty in a town where the median income hovers around $30,000. But Heidi Leathers, Greg’s girlfriend of nine years, said that the Giannonattis had “a ton of money.”

Greg’s late father, Bill, made lucrative investments, and he collected gold as well as coins, Leathers said, recalling that he had large water canisters filled with change.

He was “one of those misers that saves and saves,” she said. It didn’t surprise her that he hadn’t told Beverly and Greg about the gold bar.

Nine days after Beverly struck gold, on Oct. 28, she was seen at Muriah’s of Montana, a local steak house, having lunch with a white man of around 60 years of age.

Later that night, Greg, the son, was spotted “in an apparent hurry” driving away from his home in a white 1995 Toyota Camry, the Standard reports.

That was the last anyone had seen or heard from them.

There were no signs of struggle at the homes of either Beverly or Greg Giannonatti. The doors were locked, the cars parked and the dogs appeared to have been left alone for about five days. Beverly would never leave the house without her dogs, her neighbours say.

At Greg’s house, police found pot roast in a slow cooker that was still turned on, according to the Standard.

In a strange twist, a burglary occurred at Greg’s home just one day after the initial police search. Authorities found the flat-screen TV in the yard, clothing in bags and a cellphone, as well as two weapons missing from the residence. Other items were scattered outside, as if the robber had been interrupted halfway through the robbery.

Beverly, described by Mizner as “very sweet, very unassuming,” lived in Deer Lodge for over three decades and worked as a court stenographer. The quiet town in a valley teeming with protected wildlife was where her beloved two sons, Darrell (also deceased) and Greg grew up.

The smiling, curly-haired woman was a devout Catholic who often gave her time to charities for the poor.

Greg, a large man with hazel eyes, attended Bozeman College and later became a city engineer in Roseville, Calif. He moved back to Deer Lodge to be close to his mother, according to Leathers, who dated Greg while he was still in Roseville.

“For me, feeling that he died with his mom, thinking about them together gives me a little sense of peace,” she said. “Their relationship was so tight. Greg and her were like best friends, so his heart was always in Deer Lodge.”

Leathers recalled that Greg used to be a body builder who only ate tuna and egg whites. They lived together for a time, and Beverly would stay with them in the winter months. “He called her by her first name,” Leathers said. “ ‘Hi, Bev, how’s it going, Bev?’ It was weird, but endearing.”

In Deer Lodge, population 3,088, housing is cheap and stability priceless. Leathers visited the town several times over the years with Greg, and she recalls a single McDonald’s, no major retailers, and a smattering of establishments frequented by the valley’s devoted residents.

In the wake of the Giannonattis’ deaths, those inhabitants feel like their routines have been violently disrupted by a stranger.

Mizner said she has never heard Nelson’s name before. “He’s not a longtime resident of Deer Lodge, as far as I know,” she said.

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